Protesters entered Hamilton Hall, the site of student protests since the 1960s, and displayed a banner reading “Hinds Hall” on an upper floor. Others, outside, blocked the doors with tables and clasped their arms to form a barricade in front.
“This building is released in honor of Hind, a 6-year-old Palestinian child killed in Gaza by Columbia University-funded Israeli occupation forces,” shouted a protester inside, and those outside echoed every phrase.
A few minutes after the protesters had access to the building, police officers from New York arrived in front of the school in unmarked cars, the Columbia Spectator newspaper reported. According to the newspaper, the police will enter the school premises only if someone is injured.
About three hours after the students entered the Columbia University building, the institution sent out a notice saying that access to the campus was limited to students living in campus residences and employees providing essential services.
“This access restriction will remain in effect until circumstances allow otherwise,” the statement said. “The safety of every member of this community is paramount. Thank you for your patience, cooperation and understanding”, the message also states.
The occupation of the Columbia University building is at the heart of the Gaza-related protests that have rocked college campuses across the United States in recent weeks.
Students protest against the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip
Students on dozens of campuses from California to New England set up tent camps to demonstrate their anger at Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip and their schools’ perceived complicity in the operation.
The pro-Palestinian rallies have sparked intense debate on campuses about where educational officials should draw the line between free speech and hate speech.
On Monday, Columbia University began suspending pro-Palestinian student activists who refused to dismantle the campus protest camp after the Ivy League group of eight universities announced an impasse in talks to end the demonstration.
The university’s president, Nemat Minouche Shafik, said days of negotiations between student organizers and academic leaders had failed to convince demonstrators to remove the dozens of tents set up to voice their opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza.
Protesters on the Manhattan campus are demanding three demands from Columbia University: stop investing in Israel, transparency about the university’s finances, and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined for their participation in the protests.
Shafik said this week that Columbia University will not give up its funding from Israel. In return, he offered to invest in health and education in Gaza and to make direct investment holdings more transparent.
Detained students
At Cal Poly Humboldt University, police descended on the campus Tuesday morning, where students were occupying a school building, and began detaining some of them, local media reported. On Monday evening, the police announced that the protest was an illegal assembly and warned the protesters that they risked being arrested if they did not disperse.
Earlier, the campus was closed to anyone except students and teachers due to the ongoing protest.
Civil rights groups criticized law enforcement tactics on some campuses where police clashed with protesters and used chemical irritants to disperse crowds.
Police detained about 30 protesters at the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday morning after the university gave them until 6 a.m. local time to disperse, according to a statement that said the students they broke into the classroom buildings overnight.
“After the area was evacuated, the remaining protesters intensified their tactics, trying to force their way into the South Building, pushing the agents,” the educational institution said.
At the University of Texas at Austin, police on Monday arrested dozens of students and used pepper spray to disperse a pro-Palestinian rally. At least 100 people were arrested during the demonstration, while protesters chanted “Free Palestine” and set up a camp with dozens of tents, local media reported.
The new camp was an escalation by protesters after nearly 60 people were arrested and charged with trespassing during a campus protest last week.
At Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, protesters clashed with police, who used chemical irritants on the crowd and detained numerous people. The protesters set up a “liberation zone” consisting of tents surrounded by barriers.
“After repeated warnings and refusal to disperse, law enforcement must protect Virginians,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, wrote on social media.
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Tags: Columbia University Building Occupied ProPalestinian Protesters Building Freed
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